Chapter 314: Motivational Speaker Elif August!

Having got confirmation from Elder Axzul, I knew my plan would now work; Sarah would make it to the seventieth step, of course, with a little bit of my help. However, before I did so, I was going to make Sarah reach her limit, and only then would I help her; it may be a little cruel, but it'll help her strengthen her dao heart, something she desperately needs.

Looking upwards, I glanced at the hundredth step before shaking my head and looking at Sarah, who had just now stepped onto the forty-third step; she looked like she wasn't far from giving up as she sat down and took a moment of respite to regain her breath.

"Ugh, t-this is s-so difficult." Muttered Sarah with a wry smile as she breathed heavily while looking down at her feet, only to glance at the occasional cultivators passing her effortlessly, causing her to lower her head in disappointment.

"Stop worrying about them, Sarah; comparing yourself to others will only end badly for you; after all, you're not exactly talented." Said Elif lightly as he walked down a few steps before turning and staring Sarah in the face while she slightly raised her had and looked at him.

"Haa, that's not helpful, your Highness; it doesn't feel good for someone to say I'm untalented." Remarked Sarah with a bland expression as she shook her head before lowering it once more while Elif rolled his eyes.

"But it's the truth, Sarah. You're not the least bit talented, and thanks to your upbringing, you were forced to experience too much trauma, which, instead of strengthening your dao heart, only whittled it down… To the point where you even considered offing yourself." Stated Elif calmly as he placed his hands behind his back while looking at Sarah, who sighed but didn't respond, knowing everything he said was true.

"Of course, thanks to yours truly, that gladly didn't happen; however, the point is, with your lackluster aptitude and fragile dao heart, you're not comparable to anyone here. You're probably the least talented cultivator here, so there is no point in comparing yourself to them; rather, you should be comparing yourself to your past." Added Elif with a faint smirk as he flicked his hair behind his head before shaking his head while his voice turned slightly solemn, causing Sarah to look up at him with a deadpan expression.

"Haa, you're… You're probably right, your Highness, but it's not easy not to compare myself to my fellow cultivators; isn't the world of cultivating competitive by nature?" Asked Sarah lightly as she looked at Elif before gazing at a cultivator who was mindlessly staring at him with heart-shaped eyes, causing her to be annoyed as she was far from the only one doing so.

"Forget about them, Sarah. Cultivating is indeed competitive, but who said it must be competitive against other cultivators?" Said Elif with a soft chuckle as he snapped his fingers, drawing Sarah's attention away from the women surrounding them.

"You know, I've never once viewed cultivation as competitive; after all, there is no one alive who is my equal, and if it weren't for Illumia instilling into me that your worst enemy is yourself, I wouldn't be nearly as motivated to cultivate. That is why I said to compare yourself to your past; are you better now than you were a week ago? What about a month ago? Six months? One year?" Added Elif lightly as he waved his hand, creating a large purple palm above the steps while the sheer might radiating off it forced many onto their knees before he dispersed it after a few seconds.

"I understand, your Highness, and I appreciate your words, but they're really not that motivating." Remarked Sarah lightly with a faint smile as she glanced at Elif, who rolled his eyes before leaning into her ear, whispering a few words that caused her eyes to suddenly shine with fierce determination.

"Forget the fiftieth step, your Highness; I'll reach the seventieth by myself!" Yelled Sarah aggressively, with a determined expression as she swiftly stood up before turning around and stepping onto the forty-fourth step.

Watching Sarah's entire body ooze with an unyielding vigor and a seemingly indomitable spirit, I couldn't help but close my eyes and sigh.

'I had given that long speech to try and help her, yet those few simple words were all she needed. Haa, I don't know whether to be annoyed with Sarah or disappointed with my speech.' Thought Elif, with a defeated expression, watching Sarah enthusiastically step onto the forty-fifth step.

While it was slightly annoying how those past couple of minutes were essentially a waste of our time, I was still glad that I had managed to succeed in my initial task of motivating Sarah, so I decided to just forget about my failure and follow behind Sarah; keeping myself at a three-step distance as it was the perfect view of Sarah's backside.

Although Sarah was incredibly determined and eager, her progress was still slow, needing to take a few minutes between each step before she took the next one, and with each step, she progressively needed a longer rest; by the time she reached the forty-eighth step, it took her a full ten minutes before she stepped onto the forty-ninth step.

During this time, my two servants were seemingly beginning to reach their limits at around the mid-section of the eighties as they were currently both on the eighty-third step, and they hadn't moved in the last ten or so minutes; as for Ember, she's reached her limit at the eightieth step, and she was wasn't even able to stand anymore, she was on all fours crawling. While that wasn't how I'd ever present myself, I respected her desire to test her limits, and the fact she made it to the eightieth step while only being eight was honestly very impressive, even though Marley and Idonea are three steps ahead of her, they've had twelve more years than Ember to refine their dao heart.

'If Ember were their ages, she might surpass them.' Mused Elif lightly as he gazed at his servants before shifting his focus to his 'friends'.

While my servants were doing splendidly, my 'friends' were also about to reach the eighties, with Echo and Goliath in the lead by one step while Birger, Eyvor, and Shelia were trailing just behind; they were moving at a pace similar to how both Marley and Idonea were, so I image their limit should be around theirs as well.

However, while I was observing how everyone else was doing, Sarah had used this chance to step onto the fiftieth step, causing her to instantly collapse onto her hands and knees while her breathing turned laborious.

"Is that your limit, Sarah?" Asked Elif curiously as he stepped onto the same step as Sarah with an unphased expression while her sweat dripped off her body.

I didn't get a response from Sarah, which I was fine with, and I patiently waited beside her for the next ten or so minutes until she finally moved and crawled onto the fifty-first step, though immediately afterward, her entire body was subtly shaking.

"T-This is i-it, y-your H-Highness; I-I can't g-go any h-higher." Said Sarah with a strained voice as she spoke through her laborious breathing while she struggled not to collapse.

"Hmm, yes, I can see that. I'm rather proud of you, Sarah." Said Elif with a faint smile as he squatted down and looked at Sarah, who was faintly smiling from his compliment.

"Now then, let's head to the seventieth step." Added Elif with a faint smirk as he stood up while gazing down at Sarah, who tried to open her mouth to speak but was promptly lifted into the air by two arms.

Wrapping my arms around Sarah, I lifted her off the ground and carried her like a princess with my arms, causing her to look up at me with her sweaty face in slight surprise.

"I-Is this a-allowed, your Highness?" Asked Sarah in concern as she looked at Elif before glancing at Elder Axzul.

"Yes, don't worry; I had already asked her." Replied Elif dismissively as he nodded, causing Sarah to sigh in relief.

As I prepared to blitz our way towards the seventies, when I stepped onto the next step, I suddenly felt a massive increase of pressure atop my dao heart, causing me to frown as while it wasn't nearly enough to bother me, the increase was much larger than it should've been.

'Hmm, is it because I'm carrying Sarah, so I must deal with twice the pressure?' Mused Elif with a raised eyebrow as he glanced down at Sarah, who was completely at ease within his embrace.

Although I didn't know for certain, I was reasonably confident my assumption was correct, though, in the end, it wouldn't mean much, even with twice the amount of pressure I'm capable of easily resisting.

"I-is there a problem, your Highness?" Asked Sarah in slight concern as she gazed at Elif, who promptly shook his head before casually walking up the steps with ease.

"No, I was just talking to Illumia, that's all." Replied Elif lightly, causing Sarah to nod while she rested her head against her shoulder.

'This won't gather suspicion, will it?' Asked Sarah via divine sense as she gazed at the crowd below, eyeing the numerous women eyeing her with envious glares.

'Hmm, I doubt so; after all, it's no secret that you and I are good friends, so most people will just see this as me helping a friend. Though I'm sure there will be some who will start paying more attention to how we behave together, Birger included. Speaking of him, have you told him you're not interested in becoming his Queen? It's best to be truthful and upfront about it.' Replied Elif via divine sense with a thoughtful expression before shaking his head as he entered the sixties without slowing down.

Sarah didn't respond and instead just looked the opposite way, causing me to stare blankly at her while I stepped onto the seventieth step.